


Losing half of me • Yu-Gi-Oh

by Lyora



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Eating Disorders, Gen, References to Depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 14:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19831993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyora/pseuds/Lyora
Summary: After Atem leaves for the afterlife and all Yugi's friend go their own way after graduation, Yugi's old trauma slowly resurfaces. As his problems spiral out of control, they might put the whole world in danger. Will Atem be able to help Yugi and save the world ones more?





	1. Even happily ever after is just a beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone,
> 
> Welcome to my first ever English fanfic. First of all, I want to thank you for coming to this story, I dearly hope that you will enjoy this story as much as I do. 
> 
> Before you start to read I want to tell you that all post that all text between *** this *** and written in Italic, will be memories and flashbacks, later.  
> Yugi and Yami talking out loud will be put between "This", while them thinking to each other will be displayed like 'This'.

Atem chuckled as he watched Mana and Mahad show off their magic while the rest of his Royal court surrounded him. The two magicians where bouncing an orb of light back and forth between each other and the first one that dropped it would lose the game. It was rather amusing watching the two compete since Mana had had a whole lifetime to gain more power that Atem had yet to witness. He glanced to the side where Seto and Kissara were snuggling and smiled to himself. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so at peace with his situation, so relaxed. Each and every one of his Sacred Guardians had found peace and happiness within their final resting place and with them being at ease, so was he.  
Atem Sighed as his might shifted to Yugi, Tea, Joey, Tristan...... "No Fair!" yelled Mana and Pouted as she watched the orb of light disappear at her feet.  
She pouted and folded her arms over each other, "I was distracted by the pharaoh!" she claimed and glanced at Atem with a look of discontent.  
Atem, who had snapped out of it by now, frowned in confusion.  
"What do you mean Mana?" he asked her as he felt the attention in the room shift to him.  
He wasn't very talkative ever since he arrived in the afterlife. Although he wasn't unhappy, the others felt like their Pharoah simply needed some time to adjust. However, when he did speak up, everyone hung at his every word as though he was giving them orders in a war.

  
"Egypt to Atem, helloooo," Mana's hand waved in front of his face and Atems eyes snapped up to her.  
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" he apologized and caught her hand so that she would stop waving in front of his face.  
Mana merely frowned down at him, since she was standing over him and he was sitting down. "You're alright Pharaoh?" Mana asked, her brown eyes reflecting the seriousness in her voice. Atem plastered a smile on his face and got to his feet, "I'm fine Mana, don't worry about me," he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.  
Then he turned away from his friends with the intent to go walk for a bit, but Seto spoke up. "My king?", Atem held in a sigh and turned his torso towards his friend.  
"Yes Seto?" he said, motioning for him to continue with whatever he wanted to say.  
Seto seemed hesitant but continued none the less, "We know you've been saying that you are fine, my king, but we have been worried about you," Seto spoke.  
Atem raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked around his group of ancient friends. The expressions on their faces confirmed Seto's words and Atem suddenly felt guilty for giving them anything to worry about, they deserved their peace a long time ago.  
"I don't understand," Atem answered as he made eye contact with Seto.  
Seto seemed at unease as he moved in his place but spoke up once again. "My King, you've been unusually quiet since you arrived, you've seemed distracted like you're not really here......like you're unhappy," he finally laid out their concerns.

  
Atem thought about this for a few seconds, Seto wasn't the person to talk about emotions unless they were really as concerned as they said. "You're right, I'm sorry. I have been quiet and distracted, but don't mistake that for unhappiness. I could never be unhappy with the greatest friends surrounding me.....and in the afterlife none the less," he told them as he eyed each and every one of them and smiled at them gratefully.  
Their concern really touched him, he truly didn't know better individuals than the friends he surrounded himself with during his lifetimes.  
"But that's just it, isn't it?" Isis spoke with her voice ever so soft and wise.  
"You miss them, don't you?" she eyed him as if she was piercing right through his soul.  
Unconsciously Atem took one step back from her intense gaze and tensed his shoulders, Isis broke off the eye contact and looked down at her hands that were resting in her lap. As though she was ashamed of the words she had just spoken.

  
Atem stared at the woman's face, he had forgotten how observant his friends could be and how well they knew him. He did indeed miss his friends, the feeling was unfamiliar to him as he had never had memories of his Egyptian friends, thus he couldn't have missed them.  
Atem frowned again, he did miss them, but it wasn't like when he had lost Yugi.....Yugi.....  
He closed his eyes for a second, needing to get a grip of his emotions, for as he was not planning to show weakness in front of his Royal court. As he clenched his hand into a fist, he felt two arms wrap around him. Surprised by this he looked up and saw Shimon standing by him. "It's alright my boy, we understand," he reassured Atem.  
Atem chuckled by the so familiar-sounding words, the same words grandpa had used so many times when addressing either him or Yugi. He wiped his slightly wet eyes and smiled down at the man.  
"Thank you Shimon," he said gratefully.  
The smiled and patted him on the shoulder and Atem looked back up at his friends, "Thank you, all of you. However, I don't wish to worry you. It's true that I miss them....but that's not it," he said while he once again stood tall.  
"Than what's wrong Pharaoh?" Mana pouted at him while she was spinning her staff in her hand.  
"I wish I knew," he sighed, which earned him confused looks from everyone.  
He shook his head and rose his hand when Mana opened up her mouth again to speak. "I need some time, I'll be back....soon," he said and turned around as he had originally done before Seto interrupted him.  
Even though his friends protested Atem continued to walk away, surely they would survive an hour without him.

Atem kept walking and the scenery around him kept changing. The afterlife was truely great, whatever you wanted and whatever your heart desired would be there whenever you wanted it. But even afterlife had its limits. The only thing Atem truly wanted was to have all his friend, all the people he cared about, at one place. But that was far beyond the power of the afterlife and Atem knew it. Just like every monster had a weakness, so did this place.  
He kicked away a small stone in front of his feet and looked up when he heard it collide with water. In front of him was an enormous lake that spread out as far as the eye could see. With a sigh, he sat himself down at the edge of the lake and kicked off his shoes before he dipped his feet in the water.  
Staring down at his own reflection made him wince, his own face reminded him of Yugi. The once small boy wasn't so small anymore, and as he grew up he began to look more and more like Atem.  
That wasn't the case when he first met Yugi, far from.....

***

 _He gazed at the door of his soul room, he had noticed his friend had developed a strange pattern lately. A pattern wherein Yami was frequently cut off and shoved away in his soul room, without his consent._  
_Yami had fallen asleep while waiting for Yugi to let him back in....or out actually. He was woken up by thick smoke. His eyes snapped open and he sped to the door of his soul room in an instant. Was there a fire? Was Yugi at danger?_  
_He banged against the door, which to his surprise opened smoothly. Unsettled by this, Yami sped out to their hallway and appeared in his ghostly form right next to Yugi._  
_He blinked his eyes in surprise a few seconds, the youngster was leaning out of the window and Yami couldn't detect any sign of danger that might have caused the smoke. He stepped closer to Yugi and froze when he saw what was in his Aibou's hand. "Yugi!" Yami cried out in disbelief and anger, he couldn't believe it._  
_Yugi jumped at his voice and nearly dropped the cigarette out of the window. He cursed and looked up to find Yami standing right behind him. "You scared the hell out of me Yami!" Yugi complained as he took another drag of his cigarette and stared at Yami as if nothing was going on._  
_Yami had seen quite enough, "What do you think you're doing?" he growled and stepped next to Yugi._  
_"What does it look like?" Yugi said in annoyance and waved his hand while he blew out little circles of smoke._  
_"Besides, what are you doing here? I thought I had put you away" Yugi grumbled._

  
_Yami narrowed his eyes in anger, his Hikari had never spoken to him like that, in such a disrespectful tone. Yami, however, decided to stay calm, there should be a logical explanation for this. "I thought there was a fire, my soul room started to fill with smoke," He answered Yugi with his arms folded in front of himself._  
_"Clearly I was mistaken," He added and clenched his teeth and Yugi took another drag of the cigarette. Yami hated seeing him do this, why was he hurting himself like this? Yugi was well aware of the effects._  
_"Yes you were, so you can leave me alone now," Yugi snapped at him and gave him an angry look._  
_Yami was taken aback by this but shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on.....and put that out! You're intoxicating our minds!" Yami complained and massaged his temples, he could feel the nicotine getting to him. He didn't even wanna know what effects it had on Yugi._  
_Yugi huffed but put out the cigarette anyways, then he turned to Yami with a look of annoyance on his face. "The only thing that's going on is that you're being annoying. I have no need for you, go away!" he lashed out._  
_Yami was shaken by his words, they really did hurt him. It was in that short moment of inadvertence that Yugi mentally locked him up in his soul room again._  
_With a look of disbelief on his face, he started banging at the door again, what had just happened? "Yugi! Let me out! Don't you dare ignore me!" He yelled, his voice echoing through the puzzle, but he got no response._  
_"Yugi!"_

***

Atem came back to reality when he heard something moving behind him. For a moment not realizing where he was, he stood up and turned around with his handheld up high, a flame emerging from his palm. He was ready to attack whoever snuck up to him, but the intruder held up her arms and stepped into the light of his magic flames. "It's me, I didn't mean to scare you!" Mana said, looking startled by Atems fierce reaction.  
Atem, in turn, lowered his hand and was about to put out his flames, when he noticed that it was already night time. Confused, he let the flames dance around his palm, providing the two of them a little bit of light in the dark. "What time is it?" he demanded to know.  
"It's already past midnight Pharaoh, we were worried for your safety," Mana explained as she frowned.  
Atem felt the headache in his head building up as he tried to recall six hours passing by. He shook his head and eyed at her with a sorrowful look on his face. "I am sorry Mana, I am causing all of you a lot of trouble lately," he sighed and let his head hang.  
Mana was surprised by this view, Atem was a proud and strong Parhaoh and he nearly never let his head hang. "Hey it's alright, what matters is that you're safe," she answered as she stepped in and gave him a hug.  
She felt Atems weight on her increasing and she frowned, "So tired," Atem muttered as he felt his eyes closing rapidly.  
Mana tightened her grip on her friend and slowly put him down in the grass.  
She looked down at her friend and sighed, "Oh Atem, I wish we knew what was going on in that stubborn head of yours," she whispered as she summoned a mattress and a pillow underneath him and a blanket on top of him.  
She then watched him for a few more seconds as he restlessly turned and mumbled in his sleep, before she proceeded to put red sparks in the sky so that the other could find them.


	2. Lies and midnight swimming

***  
_Yami silently watched through Yugi's eyes, trying to keep as quiet as he could. If Yugi noticed him, he would probably lock him up again. "Oh, no thanks," He heard him say._  
_Yami frowned and look up again, "I became vegan recently," Yugi told Joey and waved away the hotdog with a smile on his face._  
_Joey looked at Yugi as though he was going crazy and Yami feared Joey might be right. "What?! But Yug, you love hotdogs!" Joey said in confusion._  
_Yugi laughed, it sounded fake to Yami. "Yeah, but it's better for my health, the animals and the planet," Yugi answered him and shrugged when Joey kept starring at him._  
_"More for me I guess," Joey brushed it off and started chowing down on his lunch._  
_Meanwhile, Yugi just moved around the salad on his plate and took small bites every now and then. Yami could feel Yugi's hunger and yet he wasn't eating properly. He hesitated to speak up, the last couple of weeks Yugi had only lashed out to him anytime he appeared._  
_Yami bowed down his head and kept silent, hoping that Yugi just had puberty hit him late and that he would get over it, soon._  
  
***  
  
Atem turned and tossed in his sleep, while his sacred guardians were setting up camp around him. While Mana was getting a fire going, Mahad was making sure their Pharaoh was physically alright. His magic crept through his master's body, only to return to him without any results. "He seems to be unharmed, he just needs rest," Mahad spoke up and stood up from his kneeling position.  
"Thank the gods," Isis sighed and gave Mahad a weak smile  
  
  
***  
_Yugi's hands were shaking while he was copying the notes from the chalkboard, Tea who noticed this bent over to him. "You alright Yugi?" Tea asked with a worried look on her face._  
_"Hmm?" Yugi looked up, "Yeah yeah I'm fine, just had a short night studying for the test on Thursday, that's all," he lied to her._  
_Yugi had never been a good liar, but lately, he had become worryingly good at it. Yami grunted as he noticed this. He knew for a fact that Yugi had slept for over twelve hours. "You shouldn't wear yourself out like that Yugi, you always ace tests no matter what," Tea scolded him._  
_Yugi grinned, "I'll go rest after school, don't worry," he promised her, this seemed to satisfy Tea enough to get her off his back for now._  
_Yugi let out the breath that he has been holding and continued scribbling down the notes that the teacher wrote down for them._  
_'Yugi, why are you lying to her?' Yami asked him through their link._  
_He glanced up from underneath his bangs and saw Yami leaning against his desk, unnoticed by everyone else in the classroom._  
_'Why do you care?' Yugi hissed back at him._  
_Yami, by now, was really done with Yugi's behavior and crossed his arms over his chest. 'I don't know what's going on with you lately, this is not you Aibou,' Yami sighed and shook his head._  
_'Yeah well, maybe you don't know me so well after all! Get used to it Yami!' Yugi grumbled._  
_'Yugi, I-' Yami fell silent as Yugi's hand started to tremble harder and he noticed a little layer of sweat on his Hikari's forehead._  
_'Yugi are you feeling alright?' Yami asked in concern and reached out for him._  
_Yugi seemingly forgetting that they were in the middle of a classroom filled with people, swished his arm at him as if he was trying to hit Yami._  
_Yami stared at him as Yugi's arm went right through him and so did the rest of the class, not understanding what was going on._  
_"Mister Muto?" The old and graying man looked up from his writing to gaze down at his top student._  
_Yugi didn't answer, instead, he jumped up from his desk and stormed out of the classroom. Yami quickly followed him as he heard Tea being scolded and getting dragged back in by the teacher._  
***  
  
Even in his sleep, Atem didn't seem at peace, Mana sighed and cast a few spells over her friend that should make him more at ease.  
After a while, each of the sacred guardians fell to sleep, even Mana, who wanted to watch over her friend for the night, doze off as time went by.  
  
  
***  
_"Leave me alone Yami!" Yugi shouted at him, now that there was no one else to hear them._  
_"Yugi please," Yami begged him, wanting to reason with the young one._  
_"No! I. SAID.LEAVE.ME.ALONE" Yugi kept pacing away from him when all of a sudden the puzzle started to glow._  
_"Please calm down Yugi, you're disturbing the energy's of the puzzle," Atem pleaded with him._  
_Yami himself wasn't even sure what was happening, but seeing Yugi's current state, it couldn't be good and he really needed his Aibou to calm down before he would accidentally activate some kind of magic._  
_Yugi's breathing got heavier as the shaking got more intense when they got outside of the school building, Yami tried to lay a hand on Yugi's shoulder and turn him around so that they could face each other. Instead, the light got brighter and erupted, blinding him completely. "Yugi!" Yami cried out for his friend as he covered his eyes with his arm and tried to see what was happening._  
  
_Next thing he knew, he was in a very dark and cold room. He looked around in confusion and tried to figure out where he was. He could strongly smell coffee, which confused him even more. Yami sighed and started to slowly shuffle around with his arms stretched in front of him, hoping he wouldn't fall in some kind of trap._  
_He then bumped into something, which at first he thought was a wall, but it turned out to be a door. He turned the doorknob around and opened it, resulting in light falling into the room. Yami blinked a few times to get used to the rapid changes from light to dark and back to light. He stared into the hallway for a second and saw the door of his own soul room right across from him. Goosebumps crawled over his skin as he realized that he somehow ended up in what was supposed to be Yugi's soul room._  
_By remembering where it was, Yami switched the light switch on and gazed into the room. The light didn't work properly and dimly lit Yugi's room. What Yami saw put a lump in his throat._  
_The once bright room, filled with toys and happiness, had become a grey and dark space. It barely looked like it was inhabited anymore. It was then that Yami realized that this wasn't just something that would blow over, but Yami was still puzzled by what was going on exactly._  
_"Oh Yugi, I am so sorry for not seeing it sooner," He whispered as a tear rolled down Yami's cheek._  
_Yami was getting crushed by feelings of guilt when all of a sudden the room started to shake and cracks appeared in the wall. Yami's eyes widened and he let out a gasp as he felt a strong wind and he was blown out of Yugi's soul room and knocked unconscious against the entrance of his own soul room._  
  
***  
  
Atem eyes flew open, he was surrounded by water and his lungs were burning from lack of oxygen. He desperately tried to move his limbs in order to swim to the surface, but his body refused to answer. Not recalling how he got here or where he was in the first place, he started to panic. His mind was rapidly going fuzzy as he felt his body sinking further, he thought he saw something but wasn't quite sure as his view slowly darkened and the darkness took over.  
  
Seto woke up to a cold breeze that tickled his skin lightly. He turned around and grumbled as he tried to get a grip of sleep again. However another cold breeze hit him and in annoyance, he sat up straight to see if the fire was still running. It was then that he noticed the Pharaoh gone. "Wake up!" he shouted at the rest of the Royal Court.  
Eyes instantly snapped open, only Mana grumbled to him to shut up. "Mana this is no time to be sleeping, the Pharaoh is gone!" Seto cried out.  
This seemed to be enough to grab Mana's attention. She shot straight up and looked down next to her, where the Pharaoh should be sleeping. "Where is he?!" she cried out as she looked up and scanned her surroundings.  
Maybe he just went to empty his bladder? "If we knew that he wouldn't be missing Mana," Seto snapped at the younger girl.  
Mana frowned and looked up as Mahad whisper to his millennium ring that instantly started glowing. "Well, where is he?" Shada asked as he watched Mahad trying to locate the Pharaoh.  
The ring started pointing and tugged at Mahad neck. They all turned their necks and gazed into the water where the ring was pointing towards. "Oh no," Isis cried out, and they all saw how a far underneath the surface a strong light started glowing.  
"My king!" Seto shouted in horror.  
It didn't take even five seconds for Mahad and Seto to jump into the water as they both started diving towards the Pharaoh. When they came closer they could see their king unconscious and looking very pale. Mahad just wished they weren't too late. Both Seto and Mahad grabbed one of the Pharaoh's arm and started to pull him to the surface as quickly as possible.  
  
Atem felt his back roughly collide with the ground and tried to gasp for air. Instead, a whole bunch of water came racing up his throat. Gagging on the sensation he barely noticed how someone held him up so that the water was able to leave his mouth. "My king," a worried voice sounded next to his ear as the person belonging to that voice stroke his back in an attempt to soot him.  
Atem desperately wanted to answer the voice but as he tried to blink away the darkness, he could feel his body struggling to stay awake.  
The next time he awoke he felt a cool cloth on his forehead, his clothes where dry and he was wrapped up in multiple warm blankets and placed beside the fire. He slowly opened up his heavy eyelids and gazed into the light of the fire. He shivered, making the cool cloth fall of his forehead. This drew Karim his attention, "He's awake," he announced quietly as he put the cloth back on his king's forehead.  
Next Atem saw his friends move into his line of sight. "Pharaoh, you had us worried," Seto scolded.  
"Seto, this is no time to be harsh on him!" Isis scolded Seto in return and gave him a disapproving look.  
Seto and Isis glared at each other for a few seconds, before Seto mumbled something and appeared to give in to Isis, as he kept quiet and looked back at Atem.  
Atem sighed as his view got a little clearer, he tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness made him lay back down. A grunt left his mouth and he took a deep breath. "What happened?" he asked, trying not to sound as weak as he felt.  
"You...we..." Mana looked at him and teared up.  
Atem reached for her hand and softly squeezed it, "When we woke up you were gone," She whispered, barely noticeable over the sound of the cracking fire.  
Atem looked at her, silently telling her to go on. "Mahad used his ring and...and we almost where to late. You wherein the lake and you nearly drowned," Mana said, starting to softly cry as she stated the last part.  
Atem frowned, "We are already dead, how could I drown?" Atem wondered as he kept holding on to Mana's hand.  
"We are not sure Pharaoh, we hoped you could tell us more," Mahad answered him.  
Mahad looked at Atem with a gaze of wonder in his eyes.  
Atem's frown deepened, he stared down at his own and Mana's hand tangled together. He sighed and slowly let go of his friend's hand.  
He felt exhausted and knew full well that he wasn't hiding it very well, "My king, maybe you should rest, we have all the time of the world to talk about this after you recovered," Shimon spoke up.  
Atem gave a small smile, worry still written all over his face. "We won't let you out of our sight again, don't worry Pharaoh, you'll be safe," Mana promised as she wiped away the last of her tears.  
Atem gazed at all of them as they all nodded in agreement and felt truly blessed with the people in his life. "Thank you," he said, already feeling sleep calling for him.  
As he drifted off he could feel the magical energy of the millennium items flooding over him, guarding him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you again for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter in the comments below.


End file.
